


it takes a monster to raise some kids

by JustKeepWriting



Category: Venom (Comics), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Gen, venom is the batshit crazy uncle who BASICALLY kidnapped two kids, y'all can pry the 'monster finds unconventional family' trope from my cold dead hands
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-16
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-06-28 01:43:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15697584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustKeepWriting/pseuds/JustKeepWriting
Summary: Eddie Brock’s life is already a nightmare with his monstrous alter-ego. Now, throw two runaway kids into the mix, and things get even crazier for him.





	1. well, this is a surprise

Eddie Brock wakes up to _many_ unpleasant things.

Eviscerated corpses, bloodied bits of dried flesh stuck to his clothes, a rotting iron aftertaste that he can never quite wash out his mouth (he _tries_ not to think what the Other has gorged on while he was blacked out), or if he’s truly unlucky, all of the above. He’d like to say that he’s horrified from what he had _become_ ever since he bonded (or cursed) with the Other, because that would be the _human_ thing to say. But he became used to their - the Other’s - _Venom’s_ atrocities. Disembodied heads and puddles of blood simply no longer paralyzed him.

The fact of the matter is, he’s pretty much grown desensitized to his horror show of a life.

Thankfully, on this particular morning, Eddie wakes up to none of this. A rare blessing, if you’d asked him. He’s in his tiny and dingy New York apartment, sprawled on the scratchy carpet floor. The first thing he’s vaguely aware of, is that the television is blaring in the background. Funny, since when did the Other watch TV? And what was that godawful music playing on TV?

“ _...Cyberchase we’re moving, We’re beating Hacker at his game…_ ”

Groggily, Eddie forces himself to get up so he could shut off the damned thing. God knows the last thing he needed was a high electricity bill. Just when he was about to slam the off switch on the TV, a young and serious voice declares: 

“You have boring channels.”

Eddie whips around. He’s no stranger to hearing disembodied voices, but Venom _certainly_ does not sound like some pre-pubescent child.

The very last thing he couldn’t have expected was two young intruders sitting on his ragged couch.

They’re two kids, an older boy and a very young girl. From behind the older boy’s thick bangs are a set of haunted eyes that heavily scrutinize the older man. Meanwhile, the little girl has the brightest and brownest eyes Eddie’s ever seen. She has long and perky pigtails, each tied up with purple scrunchies. Seeing that Eddie’s wide awake, she smiles and waves a frantic hello.

“G’morning!” She chirps, through a mouthful of Frosted Flakes.

Eddie blanchs. _Oh shit._ Is what immediately crosses his mind. A blackout and two random kids in his apartment, is never a _good_ combination in his world. He immediately turns his thoughts inward to the Other.

‘ _What did you do?’_ He asks sharply, that familiar feeling of _horror_ churning his stomach.

Another dripping and alien voice chuckles.

**_‘THEY ARE BOTH OF OURS, NOW.’_ **


	2. mister monster

Most of the times, the symbiote couldn’t understand his human host.

The Other Half was too picky about many things. He was fussy about who they killed and what they ate. He would protest over _which_ humans to kill, and would regurgitate whatever meal Venom consumed. This erratic and human behavior, often frustrated the symbiote. Venom never cared what went down their throats, as long as it was delicious carcass. On the other hand, this horrified the Other Half to no end. It made the symbiosis between them so much more difficult. Why must humans have so many taboos and rules and _pesky morals_?

Bodies are meat, meat is food, and food is sustenance.

However, since it does not think itself as cruel, it tries to be reciprocal to the other’s needs. Apparently, the human is obliging to certain _types_ of humans they would kill down as Venom. Secretly, Venom does not quite comprehend this bewildering moral system, who gets to live, who gets to die. At the end of the day, all humans are walking bags of flesh. But, when the symbiote kills these certain types of humans the human deems as unworthy to live, the Other Half complains much, much less. So, both parties reached a compromise.

Last night was one of those nights, where Venom stalked after their unsuspecting prey.

Those particular humans were all dressed in uniformed black, all heavy with the stench of _That Place._ Remembering That Place brought a white hot fury shared by Venom and the human. ‘ _Life Foundation,’_ is what the Other Half would whisper in their mind, but Venom cares not for names. What was clear was that those humans from That Place, were free lambs for the slaughter.

Venom watched their ignorant prey from the shadows, as they bustled and moved about. Plenty of them swarmed around two black vehicles. While the Other Half pondered what precious cargo they could possibly be guarding, such thoughts had not crossed Venom’s mind. All Venom saw, while he waited hungrily from the shadows, was meat ripe for the taking. They waited together ever so patiently, until the humans from That Place boarded the vehicles and drove off.

And that was when the hunt began.

They launched off their haunches, and sprinted after the vehicles. Each time all four of their feet pounded into the ground, powerful muscles rippled through their body. Venom blindly followed the white sterile and chemical scent from That Place, and never lost sight of the vehicles. Like a prowling lion on the hunt, they darted through wood, dirt, and rocky ground, their sights firmly set on their prey.

They bid their time, until the cars reached a secluded destination in the heart of the wood. A gallows grin too wide for a human face, stretched violently on their lips.

 _Dining time_.

In a dark blur, Venom pounced on one of the two vehicles. It brought its talons down into the metal, and shredded away at the material like it was wrapping paper. The car sharply swerved, and crashed into an oak tree. Sirens began to wail, and smoke clouded the metal wreckage. Two humans emerged from the front, coughing and swearing.

“Shit, what happened?”

“I dunno, I heard something on the roof...it sounded like screeching…?”

“You heard that too?”

The humans murmured to each other, a shared sense of subtle anxiety growing between them. Venom crept up to them, hanging upside down from the branches above. _Delicious, succulent fear._ Involuntarily, saliva dribbled from Venom’s mouth. They dripped onto the humans below.

One of them pulled out a flashlight, and shined it above to get a better view.

This was the last thing both of the poor bastards saw. A wide and gaping maw, filled with a countless number of serrated teeth, came upon them. They didn’t even have a chance to scream, and Venom chomped their heads off in one, clean bite. Warm blood bursts in their mouth. They grumbled, pleased. The heads were _always_ the best part. They exploded so nicely on their tongue.

“ _F-fuck!_ ”

Something sharp and metal hit Venom’s meaty shoulder. It hissed, turning its body at inhuman speed. Another human from That Place, cowered before Venom. When Venom made eye contact with this very frightened human, the ant scrambled to get away. He pointed his weapon, a gun, and fired it off like crazy. The bullets hit Venom’s chest, but the symbiotic suit kept the metal from piercing their skin.

Venom growled, displeased. It began advancing towards the human, dragging a long and bloodied tongue across its teeth.

“B-b-back up! We need back up! Come in, hostile force has intercepted the Esper Delivery, I repeat, a hostile force has intercepted - AAAAAAggHHH!”

They went straight for the throat - it was the most tender and sensitive part of the human body, after all. Venom’s hand was so huge, it easily wrapped around the human’s scrawny neck. The man struggled, thrashed, and kicked. _What an annoying little bug_.

“Please! _Please!_ ” Was all the man managed to sputter, before Venom snapped his neck. Bones crunch, and the man’s head bended at an unnatural angle. He stopped moving. Venom couldn’t even decide which part he wanted to consume, before his senses told him there were two other human beings from That Place, attempting to flee the scene. A wicked smile crossed their face.

Oh, Venom liked it when his prey tried to run.

 _They can never can outrun him_.

* * *

They ate and ate, filling their stomachs with minced meat and pulverized bone. Perhaps they were being a touch gluttonous, but it was a well deserved meal. More scum wiped off the earth, and a hearty meal for Venom. A successful hunt indeed.

Just when they were polishing the last scraps of meat from their hands, Venom heard a quiet sniffle.

They stopped gorging, and paused.

After a few seconds passed, the sniffle returned, much sharper and louder this time. They cocked their head, and crouched. Where was this sound coming from? Now that Venom was alert, he picked up the soft sniffles coming from one of the trucks, sounds that would’ve been impossible for the human ear to pick up on. Intrigued, Venom prowled over to the truck and stared. They licked their lips greedily, and relished the thought of more humans stowed away in the car. It could always eat more.

Ravenous, Venom dug their talons into the metal and slashed it down.

They unhinged their jaws, until the bone dislocated, prepared to quickly devour the unfortunate passengers.

What stopped Venom was a piercing cry - one belonging to a child.

They froze and their mouth snapped shut.

Inside the truck was a little human girl. She had a round and chubby tear-streaked face. Her innocent brown eyes fearfully stared up at Venom. A hiccup escaped her, similar to the sniffle he heard from earlier. She squeaked in alarm when Venom’s pale eyes looked at her, and backed away deeper into the truck. She curled into a corner, and hid her face into her arms. Soft and pink fear radiated from the child’s small form. The animosity within Venom instantly disappeared.

An innocent. What could an innocent be doing with some humans from That Place? Venom craned their head into the truck.

“POOR, POOR LITTLE ONE. WE’RE NOT HERE TO HURT YOU. _”_

The child only trembled from Venom’s booming voice. They gingerly reached inside, and scooped up the little girl. She whimpered, and covered her eyes from Venom. Now that they were holding her in their claws, they felt the thrum of her tiny and beating heart within her chest. So fragile, so young. Venom cradled the child. She could be crushed so easily, if he wasn’t careful.

 

The Other Half’s consciousness surfaced momentarily, and panic seared into their mind.

 

‘ _You’re scaring her!_ '

 

Suddenly self-conscious, Venom held the child further away from their chest, at arm’s length. She trembled, her small hands balling up into tiny fists.

 

“T-there a-a-are _two_ of you.” She whispered, wide eyed.

 

Venom smiled, pleased from the child’s observations.

 

“YES,” They confirmed.

 

“Are - are you g-gonna eat me?” She asked in an even smaller voice.

 

“OF COURSE NOT, LITTLE ONE. YOU HARDLY HAVE ANY MEAT ON YOUR PUNY BONES.”

 

_‘Jesus fucking Christ, that was a horrible thing to say.’_

 

The little one stopped shaking, and paused to study Venom.

 

“You shouldn’t curse,” She suddenly declared. “Shen said those were bad words.”

 

Venom tilted their head. The child can hear their conversation? Strange.

 

“STRANGE LITTLE ONE. _”_

 

The Little One glanced around, cautious.

 

“Are...are the bad men gone?” She asked, in a hushed voice.

 

Venom tucked the Little One into the crook of their arm. They tapped her little nose, and shook their head.

 

 _“_ I CHASED THE MONSTERS AWAY. _”_

 

A tentative smile reached the Little One’s face.

 

“No,” She giggled. Fear instantly disappeared from her scent. “ _You’re_ a monster. Mister Monster.” 

Venom grinned back, in an attempt to mirror the child’s mood. Unknown to them, their smile was blood stained and showed too many teeth. At least the Little One calmed down now. It was a nice change, holding a life form that didn’t take one look at Venom and run away, screaming in fear. She tried to peek over their shoulder, but his muscle mass was too bulky.

“Mister Monster, can you get my brother?” The Little One pointed a chubby finger to the other truck. “He’s stuck in there!”

 _‘Don’t let her see the blood.’_ The Other Half cutted in, panicked.  

 **‘** **_DO NOT FRET, WE ATE NEARLY ALL OF IT._ ** **’**

With the Little One close to their chest, Venom pried the metal off the back of the other truck. Lying inside was another child, a boy older than The Little One. He was slumped over to the side, unconscious.

“Shen!” The little girl cried out, and wriggled out of Venom’s grasp. They set her down, and she clambered to reach her brother’s side.

Venom stared at both of the children, contemplating. Both were innocents from that Other Place. Lost and orphaned innocents. It is only natural, that they take them to their nest.

In that moment, Venom decided that the children was theirs to claim.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh venom, you weird alien monster. comments and feedback are much appreciated!


	3. three's a crowd

Eddie reels from the sudden flashback. Everything Venom experienced last night are now his memories. He can remember every single detail and sensation, right down to their victims’ lumpy flesh travelling down their throat - he swallows the bile before he could throw up. His head throbs painfully, bordering a migraine. He clenches his teeth, trying to ignore the ache.

_ ‘They’re not ours.’ _

**_‘WE DISAGREE.’_ **

_ ‘They’re both CHILDREN, not property!’ _

“Mister Monster?” The little girl speaks up, interrupting their argument. 

Eddie flinches, forced out of the internal turmoil. He glances shakily down to the kids. The little girl, bright and oblivious to the danger she and her brother are in, frowns slightly in concern when she sees the caged look on Eddie’s face. On the other hand, her brother is polar opposite, regarding him with a suspicious eye. Trying to mask his growing alarm, Eddie gets on one knee to meet the kids’ level. The brother responds by drawing closer to his little sister, giving the most deadly glare a child’s face could muster. The girl blinks curiously.

“H-hey…” Eddie begins hoarsely, flashing a weak smile. “How did you get in my apartment?”

“Mister Monster brought us here.” The girl answers nonchalantly, stuffing another fistful of cereal into her mouth. Eddie sucks in his breath, knowing what the girl was referring to. How was she not frightened of them? She’s simply too young and too trusting. His eyes slide over to the boy, whose face is closed off. 

“She keeps on saying that,” The kid says stiffly. “We both woke up here, and I don’t remember what happened. So how’d  _ you _ bring us here?” His eyes narrow at Eddie. He was just a child, yet the boy looked like he’s already knew too much. 

Eddie falls silent, gauging the situation. How much did the children exactly know? And why were they being escorted by the Life Foundation, no less?

“We - I found both of you. You were inside of trucks. Why is that?”

The boy turns his face away. Silence. No answer. Eddie decides not to pry, moving on to the next subject.

“What are both of your names?”

“None of your business,” The boy snaps, but his sister answers faster. 

“Lily!” She proclaims, with a slight puff of her chest. She sticks a finger at the boy saying, “And that’s my big brother Shen.” 

Shen flashes his sister a vexed glare. She freezes up, and turns to look at him with big eyes. He shakes his head, ever so slightly. Lily’s small face crumples into a pout, and she sullenly crosses her little arms over her chest. Eddie raises an eyebrow at this odd interaction, his eyes flickering to the older brother. From the deep scowl on the boy’s face, Eddie can safely guess the kid doesn’t trust him. A smart move.

“Lily and Shen. Er, where are your parents…?”

Lily opens her mouth, probably about to blurt something else out, but this time Shen beats her to the punch.

“Our dad’s farther upstate. We’re on our way to see him.” Shen gets up to his feet, grabbing his sister by the hand. “In fact, we should be on our way. Where’s the nearest bus station?”

Eddie furrows his eyebrows to this rushed explanation. He couldn’t tell whether Shen was lying or not, but the boy definitely wanted to get out of the apartment with his sister as swiftly as possible. Eddie couldn’t blame the kid. If anything, he was smartly handling the situation.

**_‘THEY COME FROM THAT PLACE. TELL ME YOU CAN’T SMELL THE STENCH FROM THE CHILDREN. THEY ARE NOT SAFE.’_ **

Eddie ignores the Other’s voice, and turns his back from the kids. 

“Sure thing. Er, closest one is a few blocks away, I can write you an address…” He stops, wincing in pain when its voice comes crashing back. It drills into Eddie’s skull, more demanding this time.

‘ **_YOU ARE CONDEMNING THE INNOCENTS, EDDIE. ARE YOU CHOOSING TO BE IGNORANT FROM WHAT WE SAW LAST NIGHT? THEY ARE NOT YOUR COMMON PAIR OF HUMAN CHILDREN.’_ **

_ ‘Shut up. Shut up.’ _

_ ‘ _ **_IF YOU WILL NOT LISTEN, I WILL TAKE OVER IF I MUST.’_ **

Oozing and alien black liquid begins to ebb up Eddie’s neck. His stomach lurches. He can’t transform in front of these kids, anything but that. They had to leave while they still can, before his insane alter ego forces them to stay. Eddie sinks his fingernails into his arms, desperately focusing on the pain to keep the symbiote in check. He’s twitching erratically, clearly disturbed. 

“A-actually...you guys should...just leave.” A sharp whimper escapes him. The symbiote’s mental and physical willpower are far too great. If the kids won’t move quickly, then it’ll take over in a matter of a minute. “Please.”

He couldn’t see the kids’ faces, but he can feel their frightened eyes on him. 

“Come on Lily.” Shen finally says. There’s a brotherly urgency in his voice, since he clearly understands the growing danger of the situation.

“But he’s in pain!” Lily cries out, indignant. “Is Mister Monster being mean to you?” She might’ve asked Eddie, but the adult man was much too distraught to pay attention to them anymore.

“Lily, we have to leave, _ right now _ .”

Before she could protest, there’s a crackle in the air, and the kids are gone. 

Eddie didn’t even have enough time to ponder how they could’ve possibly left the apartment without going out the front door. He’s too busy mentally wrestling with the Other, trying to keep it from coming to surface. Black, spiderwebbed veins bulge at his forehead and neck. Black eats away at his eyes. A guttural growl rises out of his throat, more demonic than human. He screams, throwing himself on the floor. He  _ can’t _ let it come out. They both had to calm down. They both had to calm - 

**_‘LET ME OUT.’_ **

“ _ No _ !” His voice already sounds distorted and warbled, as if two people were speaking at once. 

This resistance only makes the Other more aggressive. His veins flare up, feeling like they caught on fire. His clothes ripple, as if something was struggling to rip out of the fabric. It was horrifying, unnatural,  _ plain wrong _ to feel the alien symbiote crawling through his skin, trying to take over. He thrashes against the walls and floors, battering himself in an attempt to subdue them both. It’s too much. It’s all too much. Pain wrecks his entire body, and Eddie is completely helpless to it. 

Just when he was about to surrender completely to its control, the TV, still playing this entire time, is interrupted by an emergency alarm. 

“- _ We interrupt this broadcast with a public service emergency. This message is brought to you by SHIELD. We thank you for your patience.” _

The television replays the ear-splitting alarm, bringing intense pain to both Eddie and the symbiote. They screech together in unison, moving to cover their ears from the harrowing noise. The TV continues rattling on, and a pleasant female voice announces: 

“ _ Attention NYC citizens. Be on the lookout for two mutant children. Both possess unstable psychic powers that can pose harm to the average citizen. If you do see these fugitive mutants, do not interact with them under any circumstances. They are hostile, and will not hesitate to attack, I repeat, will not hesitate to fight back. If you have seen anything suspicious, or suspect foul play, please contact SHIELD’s emergency public number immediately…” _

Hearing this message, Eddie weakly rolls over to glance at the screen. On the bottom is scrolling text, reads: DANGEROUS ESCAPEE MUTANTS. A STATEWIDE MANHUNT HAS BEEN ISSUED AND IS UNDERWAY.

Onscreen shows Lily’s round and smiling face along with Shen’s sharp and cynical scowl. 

* * *

Shen rushes through the streets, dragging Lily close in hand.

His heart is still pounding from the encounter they had with that unsettling man. There was a presence, a dark presence that clung to the stranger. It was sickening, and it was trying to reach out to Shen. He was sure his sister sensed the aura as well, yet she wasn’t fearful in the slightest like Shen.

“Too tight!” She complains, her short legs struggling to keep up with her brother. Lily tries to pull her hand away from Shen, but he keeps her grip on her. “Shen, we’re walking too fast!”

Exasperated, Shen pulls her to the side. He gets on one knee, and looks her straight in the eye.

[ _ Lily, we have to move. The bad men are gonna find us.]  _ He says directly into her head. Shen squeezes her shoulder to emphasize his point. He has to make her understand. 

 

Her eyes fall to her feet. He knows she remembers those bad men perfectly well. 

 

[ _ But Mister Monster chased them away. _ ] She retorts, stubborn as ever.

 

[ _ You mean that weirdo back there? He’s not gonna protect us! Nobody’s gonna help us unless we get to Dad.] _

 

A loud alarm blares out of nowhere, interrupting their discussion. Lily and Shen’s heads perk up, and they turn to look where the sounds were coming from. A small crowd of people already gathered around a window shop, multiple television screens playing an emergency broadcast onscreen. Curious, the siblings join the gathering crowd. 

_ “Attention NYC citizens. Be on the lookout for two mutant children. Both possess unstable psychic powers that can pose harm to the average citizen…” _

As Shen listens to the broadcast, his face pales. They’re on the news? Wildly, he glances around. Surrounding strangers are looking at their phone screens, definitely watching the emergency broadcast. The female announcer’s voice from the screen plays from multiple screens. Starkly conscious of watching eyes, Shen pulls Lily closer to his side. He starts to back away. Lily glances up, confused. 

_ [We have to go.] _

Before he could start running, someone nearly knocks them over.

“Watch where you’re going!” A man in a business suit says, looking up from his phone screen with a scowl. When his eyes lie on Shen and Lily, they both widen. “Wait just a second...you’re those mutants from the broadcast -”

The man is suddenly knocked off his feet from an unseen force, crashing on the ground. 

Shen tugs Lily, and they break into a sprint. He runs blindly through the sidewalks, pushing anyone in their way with his vectors. Some people curse at them, most stop and stare, others recognize the siblings and begin shouting after them. Desperate to shake the attention off, Shen takes a sharp turn into a brick wall.

Instead of running smack into it, he phases through the wall, Lily towed behind. 

Once they’re out of the streets, Shen skids to a stop. He quickly glances around their surroundings. Now, they’re standing inside a narrow alley. Dumpsters are stacked against the walls, hiding them from any passerbys. Good. No one can see them. He allows himself a moment of reprieve. At least they’re away from prying eyes. For now.

A shaky breath escapes Shen’s lips. How were they going to get to Dad’s now? They would have to take a train, but with people everywhere, they’re bound to get recognized. 

“I’m thirsty.” Lily says, rubbing her eyes. 

Shen worriedly looks down at her. It also strikes him in that moment that he, still a mere eleven-year old, virtually had no means to take care of his little sister. They had no money, shelter, or means of discreet transportation. They’ll definitely get caught. He bites the inside of his cheek, forcing down the anxiety. He can’t freak out in front of Lily. 

Before Shen could comfort his sister, a shadow is casted over him. He looks up to see the most horrifying monster that ever crawled out of his imagination.

It’s  _ tall _ , taller than any adult Shen has ever seen. It’s a hulking mass of bulging muscle, easily towering over them. A spider symbol is on its chest, similar to Spiderman’s costume. The huge difference is, the monster’s suit - or  _ skin _ , Shen thinks, is completely pitch black. What looks like a pair of eyes, stares down at Shen and his sister. At least, he  _ thinks  _ the monster is staring at them. He couldn’t tell since it didn’t have any pupils. Worse of all, it’s wearing a frightening smile, full of too many shark-like teeth. 

Shen tried not to scream when the monster steps toward them.

He scrambles to his feet, getting in front of Lily. He has to protect her, at all costs. His hands begin to heat up, gathering flame. He wills his hands to stop shaking.

“Get away from us!” Shen shouts, his voice cracking near the end. He directs the fire at the monster, and it’s tar-like skin immediately begins sizzling. 

It recoils, hissing like a nest of angry snakes.

Seeing a chance for escape, Shen screams at his sister. “Lily, run! I’ll hold him off!” She doesn’t seem to hear him, though. She’s staring up at the monster, entranced. “Lily! Please! Come on!”

Much to Shen’s disbelief, she goes towards the monster instead of running away.

“Mister Monster?”

It crouches, but that hardly made the monster any shorter. Even crouching, it’s still so tall, sunlight won’t shine into the already cramped alleyway. The monster leans forward, its smile growing impossibly wider. Shen freezes up in place. How is his sister not running, screaming her head off? She stands there, unaffected by the monstrous freak of nature.

“ _ LITTLE ONE, _ ” It utters in a horribly garbled voice. “ _ YOU MUST COME WITH US.” _

Its clawed hands begin reaching down for Lily, and Shen is brought back from shock. Brotherly fury comes rushing back into his blood. The nearby garbage dumps suddenly combust into flames. To Shen’s command, they levitate and hurtle towards the monster. 

“Get away from her!”

The assault bounces off the monster, nothing more than weak blows. The monster growls, annoyed. It sharply turns to Shen, then grabs him by the scruff of his neck. He plucks Lily from the ground, and settles her into its arm. Its face comes close to Shen, and a creeping smirk twitches at its slobbering mouth.

“ _ YOU ARE TENSE. TENSE AND FIERY. _ ”

“LET US GO!” He wildy thrashes his arms around, hoping to land some punches on the monster. When his fists connected with its face, it was like punching hardened tar. 

“Shen! It’s Mister Monster! He’s here to help!” 

Innocent and pink warmth surges into Shen’s mind. It’s his sister’s presence, sending some empathic waves to calm him down. He stops fighting, only briefly, and throws her a perplexed look. He glances back to the monster’s, grinning face. It cocks its head, its pupilless eyes sizing up Shen. Then, it’s skin peels back, like a grotesque peeling away of a rotting onion. Shen freezes, and can only stare, horrified. Underneath the unnatural black skin, is another face - a  _ human  _ face. Tired and tormented eyes look at Shen, and he recognizes that face immediately. 

“It’s  _ you _ !” 

“Sorry kid.” 

No longer wearing that monster’s face, the man set Shen and Lily down on the ground. It was plain, plain  _ weird _ seeing a human head on a monstrous body. It unnerved Shen to no end. He moves to grip Lily, covering her head if the man-monster-thing was going to hurt them. Thankfully, the man-monster shrinks back down, the tar skin melting into versatile liquid and snaking back under the man’s clothes. In a few seconds, there stands no longer a monster, but only a man. 

Lily pushes Shen’s hand away from her eyes. “Hi Mister Eddie!” She says with her ever-bright smile.

The man - Eddie, gives Lily a funny but forced smile. Shen only stares, dumbfolded. He tries not to think where that strange black liquid went, and manages to find his voice.

“What...what are  _ you _ ?”

The man chuckles. His eyes are strikingly dark. 

“Wish I knew. Sorry for back there. We - it - can be a little...aggressive.”

_ We? _  Shen frowns, his head still spinning from this craziness.

“L-look. We saw the news. They’re looking for you.”

“Yeah, I know. So?” Shen shoots back ruefully. Unconsciously, his grip tightens around Lily. “Just leave us alone.”

“But they’ll find you again. Those people.  _ Life Foundation _ .” Eddie’s expression hardens for a second. It’s a poisonous and deadly look, a hint of the darkness the man possesses. It disappears as quickly as Shen saw it. “You and your sister will be safer if you come with us. We’ll protect you.”

“Why? How do you know about the Life Foundation?” Shen’s mind automatically jumps to the worse case scenario. “Why should we trust you? You’re a monster!”

“You’re right about that.” Eddie crookedly smiles. “But if you guys wanna escape the Life Foundation, we’re the only ones who can help you. Everyone else might turn you in. Aren’t I right about that?”

To this, Shen couldn’t reply. He falls silent, knowing perfectly well that this man, Eddie, was right. He still can’t meet the man’s eyes. His mind kept on flashing back to the monster’s face, a slavering and animalistic grin, that’ll definitely haunt his nightmares for the rest of his life. He wanted to protect Lily from that _ thing _ . 

 

But how can he even begin protecting her if he can’t protect himself?

 

He looks into Lily’s brown eyes, searching for her opinion.

 

[ _ What do you wanna do, Lil? _ ]

 

She blinks, a thoughtful look crossing her face.

 

_ [I like them. They won’t hurt us. And we can make them buy us McDonalds. I’m hungry.] _

 

Shen sighs, defeated. His sister’s simple and childish logic, wins this round. He forces himself to look at Eddie. 

 

“Fine, we’ll come with you. Then you’ll tell us everything.”

 

“ _ McDonalds _ .” Lily tugs his vest, insistent. Shen sighs again, never having the heart to say no to Lily.

 

“And, we want McDonalds.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i actually drew the 'children yelling to go to mcdonald's' chart on my blog, lol


	4. heated discussion

It was surreal, Eddie did _not_ imagine spending his Friday night eating chicken McNuggets with two fugitive kids.

Then again, it’s better than prowling the night streets as a monster.

Lily gobbles up her Happy Meal, eating her nuggets and french fries with ferocious vigor. She takes one look at her McDonald’s toy however, and dismisses it with a wrinkle of her nose. A cheap rip off Barbie doll, Eddie notes. When Shen sees his sister’s reaction, he passes his Happy Meal toy to her. Seeing that it’s a small toy dinosaur, she responds with a happy shriek and tears away its plastic wrapping.

Unlike his hungry sister, Shen only took a few bites from his meal. The entire time he’s been glaring at Eddie while they were eating. Eddie recalls how he attacked them with fire earlier, and imagines the kid could easily burn a hole through their head if he wanted to. _They just had to be mutant kids_. He groans internally.

 

“So uh,” Eddie begins, uneasily shifting his gaze away. “Care to explain why the Life Foundation’s after you?”

 

“Not if you tell us how you know about them.” Shen shoots back.

 

Eddie sighs, running some fingers through his hair.

 

“Doesn’t what you saw earlier speak for itself?” He says with a weak chuckle. “I was a journalist, trying to do an expose on the Life Foundation. They captured me, experimented on me, and…” His eyes fall to his hands. Their veins are black, bulging across his hands like spiderwebs.

 

‘ **_WE BECAME ONE._ ** ’ The Other hisses in their mind.

 

“...We became... _this_.”

 

Shen’s heated glare softens, if only for a moment. Lily stops eating, staring up at Eddie with big and sorry eyes.

 

“You’re not a monster, Mister Monster!” She chimes in. “You’re scary but nice.”

 

Eddie gives the girl a wry smile. _She’s a strange one_ . _A strangely cute and bubbly kid_ _._ He thinks to himself.

 

‘ **_A STRANGE ONE INDEED.’_ ** The Other agrees.

 

“How’d you escape?” Shen asks.

 

“Take your guess.” Eddie ruefully smiles, his eyes flashing black for the briefest second. Shen flinches, and Lily’s smile falters. “What are your powers?”

 

Shen fidgets, uncomfortable. He raises his palm, and a flickering flame floats above his hand.

 

“I can control fire with my mind. And I can phase through walls...I can also talk to Lily inside my head, but only with her. She’s the one that can do all the mind-talking.”

 

“I can see colors too!” Lily pipes up. “And I can hear people’s thoughts. I can hop place to place -”

 

“She means teleporting -”

 

“And I can help people feel better!” She says, with the proudest grin a little kid can muster. Eddie smiles back, in spite of himself. A dark thought occurs to him.

 

“Did they...experiment on both of you? Did they _force_ these powers on you?”

 

Shen’s gaze drops to his barely touched food.

“No, we were both born like this. With powers.” He explains. “But then one day, these guys took us away...after Mom died.” His face betrays emotion. Lily’s smile has disappeared completely. “They - they took us away, and they’ve been using us. They want us to become their weapons or something.” Shen’s hands are curled into trembling fists.

“We’re not gonna go back. _Ever!_ I won’t let them!” A fury shines in the boy’s eyes, full of destructive promise. Eddie can give the kid credit where it lies.

“What’s your plan now?  The Life Foundation won’t stop at nothing to capture you.”

“We’ll - I’ll _make_ them stop bothering us!” Shen looks at Eddie, desperate for guidance. “How did you make them stop?”

“Easy. I made a **_point_ ** .” The Other’s deep and rumbling voice creeps into Eddie’s, making a terrifying mixture of two people speaking at once. “Make no mistake, we had to hurt _many_ people to accomplish that. But with you two being kids and all, you really shouldn’t resort to that.”

Shen’s shoulders stiffen.

 

“Then I’ll _hurt_ people if I have to.” He says, in a much quieter voice.

 

Lily’s head shoots up. Something akin to fear crosses her small face.

 

“No,” She says. “No hurting.”

 

Shen raises his head, emotion overcoming his face when he looks at Lily.

 

“Somebody has to do it.”

 

“That’s an honorable cause, kid.” Eddie cuts in. “But a messy route. Brute force won’t work for you guys. You can’t kill off the entire Life Foundation. Believe us when we tried.” Darkness crosses his expression. “You must have some other plan.”

 

“Yeah...okay...we...we get to Dad!” Shen tries to sound confidence when he says this aloud, but his voice wavers near the end. Eddie raises an eyebrow.

 

“Does he know about your powers?”

 

The kids glance at each other.

“Not really.” Shen admits. “He and Mom broke up when Lily was born, but we see him on weekends. He’s really, really cool!” His young and cynical face lights up something nearly matching admiration. “Mom never wanted us to tell him about our powers - but I know he’ll take care of Lily and me! I just know it!”

 

The hope’s so strong in the kid’s voice, Eddie didn’t want to shatter it. But, he had to bring the boy back to reality.

 

“Your dad must’ve seen the broadcast at this point,” He points out. “How will he react if two fugitive mutant kids, turn up on his doorstep?”

 

Anger hardens Shen’s face.

 

“He’ll take us in!”

 

“How can you be so sure about that?”

 

“Because! He’s our _dad_!” Shen snaps. “What do you even know? You don’t know him!”

 

Eddie raises his hands defensively. Lily shrinks into her chair, sensing her brother’s tension.

 

“Sorry if I touched a nerve there, kid, but I just want to be realistic here. How will you get there?”

 

“By train. Or - or bus. He lives in Saratoga Springs.”

 

“That’s nearly eight hours away from here. You’re telling me you’re gonna drag your sister around public, hoping to reach your dad without getting caught? Even if people won’t recognize you, they’ll sure as hell say something if there are two kids wandering around, unchaperoned. And where will you get the money to board a train? A bus? Don’t look me in the eye and tell me you’ll just walk all the way from here to upstate New York.”

Shen is quiet. He lets Eddie’s truth sink in. Then, he shoots up from his seat, and shoves himself away from the table.

“I didn’t ask for your opinion!” Shen shouts, eyes ablaze. His cold and untouched food, suddenly catches flame. The lightbulbs in the apartment start flickering. “I didn’t even ask for you to bring us back here! You could’ve just left us alone! I could’ve just taken care of myself and Lily, and everything would’ve been _fine_!”

Then, the lightbulbs explode. The flames on the burning Happy Meal intensify, glowing brighter. Shen turns and stomps away into a nearby room - Eddie’s bedroom, matter a fact. Lily reacts, dumping her soda on the flames. They die down, leaving her and Eddie in darkness.

“Shen!” She cries out, stumbling out of her chair. A crackle interrupts the air, and she’s gone like the wind. Dazed, Eddie sits still in his chair, processing what just happened.

He tiredly exhales, closing his eyes. These kids were way more trouble than they bargained for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shen is an angry lil' bean. eddie just wants sleep. sorry if there wasn't a lot of venom in this chapter! i just wanted a breather chapter, and for eddie to properly interact with the kids. comments, as usual, are much appreciated!


	5. black and orange

He’s been getting funny looks for awhile, and Eddie doesn’t blame them. **  
**

He’s been standing in the fruit section for a good ten minutes, staring off into space like a corpse. And for those good ten minutes, he’s been silently arguing with Venom whether or not they should buy an entire box of Hershey bars “for the kids” - but Eddie knows it’s just an excuse for Venom to gorge itself.

_‘We’re buying food for those kids. Not for us.’_

Eddie’s eyes roam aisles and aisles of produce. The colors bleed into each other. He growls, and rubs his eyes. The grocery’s artificial white lights make his eyes ache. It reminds both of them too much of That Place. 

He pulls the hood over his eyes. When’s the last time he’s been to a grocery store? It seems like it’s been ages.

Before bonding with the symbiote, Eddie recalled a time where he would eat actual food. Human food. Vague memories of fresh fruits, vegetables, and cooked meat float through their mind, but they slip away like sand. As if to truly cement Eddie’s monstrous transformation into an inhumane beast, consuming human food became their lowest priority. 

There was only one thing both of them craved: human meat.

Maybe at one point Eddie was disgusted with it. At one point, he had to accept the loss of his humanity. Now, he has to consume flesh just like Venom.

However, with two random kids crashing into his life, Eddie figured they probably need food. Nutrition. Human stuff.

 ** _‘WE CAN HUNT FOR THEM.’_** The Other whispers, demonic and garbled.

“No.” Eddie says out loud, sharply.

“Excuse me?” A feminine voice asks from behind Eddie.

He twists his head. A blonde woman looks at him with a pointed gaze, expecting an explanation. Looks like Anne, if she had shorter hair. He shakes this thought from his mind, and forces a dismissive smile. 

To relieve the awkwardness, he turns to examine the boxes in front of him. Granola bars. People eat granola, right? So a couple of kids should too. He tosses it into a basket on the floor, and scoops it up.

_‘People don’t eat people.’_

**_‘NO. WE FIND ANIMALS. HUNT.”_**  It demands.

Its predatory excitement bleeds into Eddie’s thoughts, and he feels his toes curl from the thought alone of chasing down animals, catching them with their jaws, biting into their soft and fleshy necks -

“No! Stop it!” Eddie snaps loudly.

The blonde woman’s head snaps towards Eddie. Her eyes look alarmed, now She doesn’t wait for him to explain himself, she speed-walks out of the aisle to somewhere else. Eddie lets out a shaky breath, digging his nails into his forehead.

_‘Let’s just get this over with.’_

* * *

Lily sees people in colors.

If she had to describe Shen’s, it would be a gentle dark blue with flickers of orange. Slow and burning, like a candle flame. Mommy’s color is a sunflower yellow - golden, warm, and reassuring. Lily doesn’t know her own color, but she likes to think it’s a neon purple - her most favorite color of all.

The monster’s color is the scariest of them all. It’s black - the pitchest and darkest black Lily has ever seen. The black she would see in her closet, the black she would see down creepy alley ways, the black hiding underneath her bed.

A monster’s color.

But then there are hints of orange, bursting within that blackness. Much like Shen’s, but rarer. The orange is being eaten away by the black, but they compliment each other, kind of like jack-o-lanterns. Whenever Lily sees that occasional orange, she thinks, maybe the monster isn’t that scary.

Within that pitch blackness is just a sad man, hiding inside the monster’s color.

So, she tries not to be scared of Mister Monster. How could a scary color like black, also have a warm color like orange in it? Maybe he isn’t a mean monster.

By the time she woke up, the monster was gone. Shen was still sleeping, so she tiptoed out of the room as to not disturb him. Lily flips through the channels, but there wasn’t much on that interested her. Just boring news and cooking shows. For fun, she begins levitating off the floor, lightly bouncing from furniture to furniture.

 _‘The floor is lava! The floor is lava!’_  She chants in her mind, taking a high jump-float over to the kitchen table. She successfully plants her feet on the surface, and then the front door swings open. 

Lily turns to see the monster, Mister Eddie, standing at the doorway, carrying plastic bags in each hand. When he sees Lily standing on the table, he gives a startled look.

“Oh…you’re…up early.” He says in a low voice.

Lily smiles, hopping down from table.

“Watcha’ got there Mister Eddie?”

“Groceries. Just call me Eddie, kid.” He chuckles, and begins taking out some of the contents. She sees a box of granola, a bag of apples, a loaf of bread. 

Lily looks up at the monster-shaped-man. The black colors surrounding him aren’t overwhelming today. It looks like it’s sleeping. The orange is brighter than the last time she saw him, like glowing embers.

She must’ve been looking too long, because Eddie gave her a funny look.

“Do you…need anything?”

Lily tilts her head. 

“I’m hungry.” She declares.

“Oh, right. Er, I can make a sandwich…?”

“Okay. D’you have red bean bread too?”

Eddie makes another one of those funny faces. “Red bean what?”

“Y’know. Red bean.” She says, insistent. “Mommy gets them from our favorite grocery.”

“Sorry to break it to you, but I probably didn’t shop there. I bought food I thought you guys could eat.”

Disappointment makes way to Lily’s face. She begins pouting, putting her arms on her chest. Then, her stomach rumbles. She stops to rub her tummy thoughtfully. If she weren’t so hungry, she might’ve just said no until she got her red bean buns. Oh well.

“Okay.” She says, reluctant. “Are you gonna make me some?”

The frown becomes deeper on his gruff face.

“Uh, well…” He stops when Lily makes her best puppy eyes at him. Sometimes that tactic works on Shen.

“Sure. I can’t promise it’ll be a pretty sandwich.”

* * *

Eddie and Venom didn’t understand Lily. It’s most likely because Eddie doesn’t have firsthand experience with children.

He never had a chance to interact with kids before the symbiosis, and there was good reason he never had children with Anne. It’s not like Eddie hates kids, he just can’t imagine himself doing a good job of raising them. 

As for the Other, it is oddly protective over the children, Lily especially. Probably because she’s younger and friendlier towards them, Venom already claimed its stakes.

**_‘OFFSPRING. OURS.’_ **

_‘Again. Not ours.’_

If there’s one thing they can both agree on, however, they can say she’s the weirdest little kid they’ve ever encountered, even without the psychic superpowers.

Despite seeing their monstrous form, she isn’t scared of them at all. In fact right now, she’s following them like a shadow. Eddie can feel her curious brown eyes looking at him, as he’s spreading some mayo on a slice of bread.  

“How can two people fit in one body?” She suddenly asks.

Eddie stops moving the butter knife. He gives Lily a distraught look. He’s pretty sure that’s a not a normal question for kids to ask. Lily looks up at him, oblivious, expecting an answer.

“Uh…are you talking about us?”

“Yeah. You and Mister Monster. How’d you fit?” She makes some hand motions. “Together?”

“Well…the Other isn’t a person to begin with.” Eddie averts his eyes away from Lily. “It’s…it says that it’s an alien. God knows from where. Apparently their kind uses people’s bodies as vessels…”

 ** _‘NOT USE. PARTNERS. BONDED.’_** The Other insists. Eddie winces but doesn’t say that part out loud.

Lily furrows her brows, maybe not quite understanding, but she stays quiet to let Eddie continue.

“I uh, I didn’t exactly have a choice to begin with.” He ruefully smiles. “But we ended up like this, working out some sort of…partnership.”  _Generous to even call it that._

“You guys chase away bad people, right?”

The kid’s innocence was astounding. It was both endearing and cutting. How could he look into those wide brown eyes and lie to them? The answer is, they can’t. He turns back to the sandwich.

“We…like to think that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for taking so long to update the story! and also sorry if nothing much happened in this chapter. i'm warming up to get back into the feel of this story. i hit a writer's block, and i honestly thought no one cared about this story, haha. but now, my inspiration has been revived! please leave your thoughts in the comments! it keeps me going!

**Author's Note:**

> y'all like what you read? please leave a kudos and a comment? it'll encourage me to keep on writing!
> 
> also, please check out my blog @askvenomandthekids. it's a blog where y'all can ask venom, eddie, or the kids some questions directly! there'll be fanart and fanfic, heck maybe you can even request. here's a link: https://askvenomandthekids.tumblr.com/


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